Rise and Shine

My 4 year old son's bedtime is usually at 9 pm sundays to thursdays. Fridays and saturdays, we usually let him sleep at 10:30pm or 11pm. But regardless of what time he slept, I've noticed that the past few months he would wake up at 5am, which is way too early for me on a cold saturday morning. Seriously. C'mon let's not kid ourselves, it. is. too. early! hahhahha At my workplace, fridays are usually the most exhausting day for me. So I expect to have more shuteyed time on Saturdays. This morning I received an email from babycenter regarding my son's development at this time. Suprisingly, it tackles about 4 year-olds waking up too early. Babycenter has proven itself to be a good source of information on kid's growth and development for parents.

Your 4-year-old now:
Often, 4-year-olds who are otherwise good sleepers wake up too early, long before the rest of the household is ready to start the day. If it's a chronic issue, the trouble may be too much napping or a bedtime that's too early. Most 4-year-olds have given up naps, but if she's still napping longer than 30 minutes, keep in mind this will be subtracted from her nighttime sleep.

If early wake-up calls happen only sporadically, there's no harm done, and you don't need to get up early, too. By 4, your child is old enough to understand that she shouldn't wake up others but is welcome to stay quietly in her room (or come and join you for a morning snuggle). Keep quiet playthings in her room. Try leaving out fresh books at night so she'll have something interesting to look at when she wakes up. Agree on a signal that indicates it's time to "get up" and leave the room: your alarm clock going off, for example, or your calling to her. Try putting an analog clock without a second hand in her room and place a sticker on the hour at which it's OK to get up. SOURCE

My son knows how to read the time at 2 1/2 yr old. So everytime he wakes up at 5, I would tell him to wait until 6:30am. While waiting, he can try to sleep some more or read a book or look at the pictures. Most of the time it works, but on some bad times, he would whisper or talk the whole time. I don't consider that as a chronic issue because at this time, my son still naps for 2 to 3 hours in the afternoon. Even if he wakes up too early, I know that he's not sleep deprived, even if it means that the mom has to be a bit sleep deprived. It's part of being a mom, eh?